xt7ffb4whp3z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ffb4whp3z/data/mets.xml Coates, Henry Troth, 1843-1910. 1901  books b98-38-41890404 English Coates, : Philadelphia : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horse racing. Race horses. Horses Diseases.Gillam, A. M. American trotting turf in 1899 and 1900. Fleming, George, 1833-1901. What to do before the veterinary surgeon comes. Short history of the American trotting and pacing horse--  / by H.T. Coates. The American trotting turf in 1899 and 1900 / by A.M. Gillam. What to do before the veterinary surgeon comes / by G. Fleming. text Short history of the American trotting and pacing horse--  / by H.T. Coates. The American trotting turf in 1899 and 1900 / by A.M. Gillam. What to do before the veterinary surgeon comes / by G. Fleming. 1901 2002 true xt7ffb4whp3z section xt7ffb4whp3z 































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       A SHORT HISTORY

                  OF THE



AMERICAN TROTTING AND PACING HORSET

                  WITHX



TABLES OF PEDIGREES OF FAMOUS HORSES, USEFUL HINTS,
   SUGGESTIONS AND OPINIONS ON TRAINING AND
      CONDITIONING COMPILED FROM VARI-
          OUS SOURCES, RULES FOR
             TRACK LAYING, ETC.,

                   BY
         HENRY T. COATES.



THE AMERICAN TROTTING TURF IN 1899 AND 1900,
            BY A. M. GILLAM,

                   AND

   WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE VETERINARY
             SURGEON COMES,
        BY GEORGE FLEMING, F.R. C.V. S.




              PHILADELPHIA:
       HENRY T. COATES & CO.
                  1901.

 








































      CO'(PYRMHlT,

HENRY T. COATES & (0.

         1MJIl.

 

                      PREFACE.



  This little work has been a labor of love, and has been written
from that cause alone. The writer has no experience to relate;
has had but little time to spare to see races, or even to drive the
pets he has raised. Therefore, having none of his own, he has
drawn largely from the experience of others, and consequently lays
claim to no merit or originality. If it be charged that too much
attention has been given to the favorites of other days and the
early years of the Trotting Turf, he can only plead the architect's
excuse, that, after all, the foundations of a house are the most im-
portant; and, moreover, Hiram Woodruffs fascinating book has
exerted an influence which the later writings of Splan, Marvin,
Feek and Geers, able horsemen as they are, have never been able to
dispel. Loving a horse for himself alone, and not rating him as a
mere racing machine, to be cast aside when no longer a money-
getter, the writer has made just such a book as he would give to
any one handling his own horses; and in the hope that others may
be led to love this noblest of animals as he does, this little book
is sent out into the world of letters.
                                          IIENRY T. COATES.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


                      CONTENTS.



                                                            PAGES.
A Short History of the American Trotting and Pacing Horse,  .  .  9

The American Trotting Turf in 1899 and 1900.. . . . . . . .     73

Some Useful Hints, Saggestions and Opinions on Training and Con-
   ditioning, Compiled from Various Sources.. . . . . . . .     82

Rules for Track Laying.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         92

What to Do before the Veterinary Surgeon Comes .  . . . . . .    94

Tables of Pedigrees of Famous Horses... . . . . . . . . . 117

A Moral for Horsemen.  . . . . . . . . . . .        ,   . .   147

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

     (From Photograph8 by the Author.)



GOLDSMITH MAID, in her twenty-sixth year, .

DEXTER, in his twenty-fifth year .  . . . . .

FRANCE'S ALEXANDER, . . . . . . . . . .

TRINKET.  . . .  . . . . . . . .  . . . .   .

HARRY WILKES ... . . ..      .  ... ..

SALADIN (from a photograph by Schreiber & Son),



. . Frontispiece.

....... . .  32

....... . .   52

....... ...  58

..... . .... 60

...... ...  66

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

A SHORT HISTORY



                             OF THE

      AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



  AMERICA naturally inherits that love for the horse and rural
life which distinguishes the mother country; but with us the
trotter holds the first place in the popular estimation, while the
running turf is patronized mainly by the wealthiest portion of the
community. Indeed, we may justly claim the trotting horse as an
American production; for though this gait is natural to the horse,
and trotting matches have occasionally taken place in England and
France, and though in Russia the efforts of the famous Count Orloff
have resulted in establishing a breed of trotting horses which have
fine action and some speed, it is only in this country that the trot-
ting gait has been brought to perfection.
  The advocates of the Darwinian theory can reasonably point to
the trotting horse as an illustration of the doctrine of evolution;
for though he is not a distinct breed or strain of horses, or de-
scended from any one family, he is certainly a wonderful instance
of what may be done by cultivating certain gaits or peculiarities, and
by a careful selection of only the best animals for breeding purposes.
His very existence in this country hardly dates back of the present
century, as in the early periods of our history all the imported
horses were used exclusively for running purposes, and the ante-
revolutionary races were all of that character. At first, as in all
new countries, the roads were very rough and stony-poor at all
times, and in bad weather utterly impassable for light carriages;
the distances between settlements were often long and the roads
lonesome, and the saddle horse was the only medium of communi-
cation, excepting when the heavy, lumbering stages jolted slowly
along the few turnpike roads running between the largest towns.
The old weather-beaten stone steps still remaining at the gateway
of many old-fashioned country houses, although now unused and
mossy, testify to the equestrian habits of the colonial era, when the
saddle horse was used by both sexes.
                                                        9

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE



  When, in May, 1788, the gray horse Messenger dashed down the
gangway of a ship from England, lying at the foot of Market street
wharf, in Philadelphia, the history of the American trotting horse
began. Messenger was a thoroughbred English horse, foaled in
1780, and was imported, as were many other English thorough-
breds, on account of his value as a running horse, and for the
improvement of thoroughbreds in this country. Like Maecenas
of classic renown he was "descended from regal ancestors," for
being by Mambrino, the son of Engineer, he could trace his pedigree
through the famous Flying Childers directly back to the Darley
Arabian, and on his dam's side he could boast of Matchem, Regulus,
Cade, and the Godolphin Arabian. He had run in England with
moderate success, winning eight out of the thirteen races for which
le started.
  He was a handsome gray, 15 hands high, with " a large bony
head, rather short, straight neck, with windpipe and nostrils nearly
twice as large as ordinary; low withers, shoulders somewhat up-
riglht, but deep and strong; powerful loin and quarters; hocks and
knees unusually large, and below them limbs of medium size, but
flat and clean, and, whether at rest or in motion, always in a per-
fect position."
  A groom who saw him taken off the ship was accustomed to
relate that " the three other horses that accompanied him on a long
voyage had become so reduced and weak that they had to be
helped and supported down the gangplank; but when it came to
Messenger's turn to land, he, with a loud neigh, charged down,
with a negro on each side holding him back, and dashed off up the
street on a stiff trot, carrying the negroes along, in spite of all their
efforts to bring him to a stand-still."
  The first two seasons after his arrival he was kept at Neshaminy
Bridge, near Bristol, in Bucks county, Pa. Mr. Henry Astor then
purchased him, and took him to Long Island. Two years later
Mr. C. W. Van Ranst purchased an interest in him, and for the
remainder of his life he was kept in various parts of the State of
New York, with the exception of one year at Cooper's Point, New
Jersey, opposite Philadelphia. He died of colic, at Oyster Bay,
Long Island, January 28th, 1808, and such was the estimation in
which he was held, that at his funeral military honors were paid,
and a volley of musketry was fired over his grave. His immediate
descendants were trained for the running turf, and Potomac, Fair
Rachel, Sir Solomon, Sir Harry, Bright Phoebus, Miller's Damsel
(dam of American Eclipse), and Ilambletonian were among the
fastest horses of their day. Had it not been that a few years after
his arrival the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law prohibiting
racing, thus compelling those owning fine horses to keep them for



10

 

AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



road purposes, in all probability his progeny would have been
trained to gallop instead of trot.
  About this time, the country roads growing better and road
wagons being made lighter, trotting came into fashion, and the
wonderful trotting speed of this family was discovered.    He
"builded better than he knew" who brought the grand old
gray into this country, and it is estimated that his importation
has added at least one hundred millions of dollars to the wealth
of the country. A very large proportion of the horses now on
the trotting turf contain the blood of old Messenger in their
veins, and the celebrated Hanibletonian, the most fashionable
stallion of recent times, boasted of four separate strains of this blood.
Other stallions have had an influence in producing the trotting
horse. The mixture of the blood of imported Diomed, the winner
of the first Derby, with that of Messenger, produced the wonderful
Dexter, while the names of Trustee, Duroc, American Eclipse and
Sir Henry are to be found in many of the pedigrees of the flyers now
on the turf. In 1822, the Norfolk trotter Bellfounder, who had
trotted two miles in 6 m., and nine in less than half an hour, and
was said to have challenged all England to trot seventeen and a half
miles within the hour, was imported, and if persistent advertising
could have made him a success, he would have been the greatest
of all importations. He lived to be twenty-nine years old, but, with
the exception of siring the dam of Rysdyk's Hambletonian. did
little to fulfill expectations. The Canadians, old pacer Pilot, Sur-
rey, St. Lawrence and Royal George, and the Arabians, Grand
Bashaw and Zilcaadi, have also had their influence; but all
combined might not have succeeded in producing the American
trotting horse had not Messenger the great been imported.
  The records of the rise of the trotting turf in this country are
few and meagre; the earliest notices of any trotting matches being
found in the American Farmer, edited by the Hon. John S.
Skinner, published in 1819.
  The first sporting paper published in America was a monthly
magazine, called the American Turf Register, also edited by Mr.
Skinner, published in Baltimore, September 1, 1829. This journal
was almost entirely devoted to the thoroughbred running horse and
racing; and, during the first two or three years of its existence,
trotting was scarcely mentioned in its pages.
  Porter's Spirit of the Times, of December 20, 1856, states:
"The first time ever a horse trotted in public for a stake was in
1818, and that was a match against time for 1000. The match
was proposed at a jockey club dinner, where trotting had come
under discussion, and the bet was that no horse could be produced
that could trot a mile in 3 minutes. It was accepted by Major



I I

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE



Wm. Jones, of Long Island, and Col. Bond, of Maryland, but
the odds on time were immense. The horse named at the post
was Boston Blue, who won cleverly, and gained great renown. le
subsequently was purchased by Thomas Cooper, the tragedian, who
drove him on several occasions between New York and Philadel-
phia, thereby enabling him to perform his engagements in either
city on alternate nights." Boston Blue was taken to England,
where he trotted 8 miles in 28 in. 55 s., winning a hundred sover-
eigns. He also trotted several shorter races, making about 3 m.
time. le was a rat-tailed, iron-gray gelding, 16 hands high, and
nothing was known of his pedigree.
  Boston Blue was followed later by a rough-coated little Indian
pony, named Tom Thumb, who on a cold day in February, 1829,
trotted one hundred miles over Sunbury Common in 10 h. 7 m.,
and in the following September, driven by his new owner, the re-
doubtable Squire Osbaldestone, he trotted sixteen and a half miles
in 564 gm.
  In 1825 the New York Trotting Club was organized, and in
1828 the Hunting Park Association was established in Philadel-
phia-"1for the encouragement of the breed of fine horses, espe-
cially that most valuable one known as the trotter"-and a corre-
spondent of the English Sporting Magazine, writing of the trot-
ting horses at this course in 1829, mentions the following:
  "Topgallant, by Hambletonian, he by Messenger, trotted 12
miles in harness in 38 minutes; and 3 miles, under saddle, in 8 m.
31 s. lie is now nineteen years old, and can trot a mile with one
hundred and fifty pounds in 2 m. 45 s.
  "1 Betsey Baker, by Mambrino, he by Messenger, beat Topgal-
lant three miles, under saddle, carrying one hundred and fifty
pounds, in 8 m. 16 s. This mare, when sound, could trot twenty
miles within the hour.
  "Trouble, by Hambletonian, a horse of good bottom, trotted two
miles in 5 m. 25 S.
  "1 Sir Peter, by Haambletonian, trotted three miles, in harness, in
8 Dn. 16 s.
  " Whalebone, by Hambletonian, trotted three miles in 8 m. 18 s.
These two, Sir Peter and Whalebone, can be matched either against
Rattler or Tom Thumb, now in England, for any amount.
  "Screwdriver, by Mount Holly, he by Messenger, in a race
with Betsey Baker, trotted two three-mile heats in 8 m. 2 s., and
8 in. 10 s."
  Indeed, so famous was Screwdriver, that when he died a Phila-
delphia paper gave him the following first-class obituary: "The
emperor of' horses is no more. Screwdrciver isdeadl. He died sud-
denly on Sunday, October 19, 1828, in his training stable, at Phila-



12

 
AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



delDhia. This is the noble animal that trotted and won at Philadel-
phia the silver cup and 300, on the 15th of May last, beating
Betsey Baker and Topgallant. On the 7th inst. he won the
300 purse on Long Island, and was intended for the 300 purse
to be trotted for on Tuesday, the 21st inst., at Philadelphia. He
was considered the best trotter ever known in this or any other
country, of a fine figure and excellent temper. He was the prop-
erty of J. P. Brown, of this city."
  In those days most of the races were at long distances--two,
three or four moile heats were the most frequent-and speed was
not, as now, cultivated to the exclusion of that other and more
useful qualification of the driving horse, endurance; and upon that
solid foundation, then and there laid, rests the beautiful superstruc-
ture which we now admire. In 1829, when in his twenty-second
year, in a four-mile race against Whalebone, over the Hunting Park
Course, Topgallant, a grandson of Messenger, trotted four heats of
four miles each in 11 m. 16 s., 11 m. 6 s., 11 m. 17 s., and 12 m.
15 s., the whole sixteen miles being trotted in 45 m. 44 s. The
second heat was declared " dead," and the third heat was won by
Whalebone. Hiram Woodruff, in his work on "1 The Trotting
Horse of America," the acknowledged standard authority, says of
old Topgallant: " He was the most remarkable instance of extra-
ordinary trotting power and endurance, when at a great age, that
ever came under my notice.    He was a dark bay horse, 15
hands 3 inches high, plain and raw-boned, but with rather a fine
head and neck, and an eye expressive of much courage. He was
spavined in both hind legs, and his tail was slim at the root. His
spirit was very high; and yet he was so reliable that he would
hardly ever break, and his bottom was of the finest and toughest
quality. He was live-oak as well as hickory, for the best of his
races were made after he was twenty years old.'
  Up to 1830 there had been but little interest taken in trotting,
but now it was fast becoming thoroughly established as a popular
pastime. Plank roads too were being laid out in all directions, and
"1 two forty on a plank road" became the familiar slang term to
denote anything fast, and applicable alike to the equine and human
species.  Old Topgallant, Whalebone and Sweetbriar were the
public favorites, while Sally Miller, Chancellor, Columbus, Dred,
Collector, and a host of new aspirants were fast edging their way
to public favor. In 1833, Paul Pry, a gray gelding nine years old,
was backed to trot 171 miles within the hour, over the Long
Island Course, which he did with ease, trotting 18 miles and 36
yards over in 58 m. 52 s. This race is especially noteworthy as
being one of the first mounts of Hiram Woodruff, to whose patient
care, wonderful insight into the nature of the horse, and unsur-



13

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE



passed skill in driving, the American trotting horse is greatly
indebted for the proud position he now holds.
   In 1834, at Trenton, N. J., Edwin Forrest, who had been
about a year on the turf, trotted a mile in 2 m. 36 s., and Columbus
in 2 m. 37 s., and the Turf Register of March, 1834, copies from a
Philadelphia paper the following comments on the race: "The
improvement of the trotting horse is engaging the attention of
some of the best sporting characters in the country. We believe
our State boasts of the best trotters in the Union. New York is
nearly as good as our own. It is, in our opinion, a sport which
should be encouraged." On May 9th, of the same year, Edwin
Forrest beat Sally Miller, on Long Island, in the then unprece-
dented time of 2 m. 31 J s., 2 m. 33 s., and soon after challenged any
horse in the world to contend with him at four-mile heats, for any
sum from 5000 to 10,000, without finding a taker. In 1836,
appeared two horses whose names frequently appear in the annals of
trotting, Awful, a tall, wiry, bloodlike looking bay, and Dutchman,
whose time for three miles stood for thirty years at the head of the
record. and has only once been beaten. Dutchman was a coarse
brown horse, 15 hands 3 inches high, very powerful and of uncom-
mon resolution and endurance. He had formerly worked in the
lead of a team which carted bricks in Mr. Jeffries' brick yard at
Philadelphia, and did his full share of the heavy work. He might
have remained in obscurity all his life if an important election had
not occurred, and Mr. Jeffries' regular carriage horse falling lante
Dutchman was pressed into the service of carrying the free and
independent voters to the polls. He performed so well, albeit the
loads were heavy, that Mr. Jeffries concluded that he would make
a trotter, and he left the brick yard forever. Transferred to the
turf, he soon took his place at its head, which he held for seven
years against such competitors as Awful, Rattler, Rifle, and the
renowned Lady Suffolk. In 1836 he trotted four mile heats
under the saddle, in 11 m. 19 s. and 10 m. 51s.; the time of
the second heat has only once been beaten. His three-mile race
with Rattler over the Beacon Course, in 1838, shows the severity
of the contests of those days, and an endurance of which we are
afraid few of the flyers of to-day can boast. The first heat Rattler
won by half a length in 7 m. 54k s., the second Dutchman won
in 7 m. 50 s., the third heat was dead in 8 m. 2 s., and the fourth
Dutchman won in 8 m. 24k s. Hiram Woodruff, who drove Dutch-
nman, says of this race: " Just such a race as this it has never been
my fortune to see since, and nobody had seen such a one before.
For eleven miles the horses were never clear of each other; and,
when Dutchman left Rattler in the twelfth, it was by inches only.
M3oreover, there were but two breaks in this race, and each horse



14

 

AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



made but one in his twelve miles. That was trotting; and though
both the horses afterwards acquired more speed, they never ex-
hibited more obstinate game or more thorough bottom than in this
race." Rattler was soon afterwards taken to England, and was by
all odds the best trotter ever taken there.
  Dutchman's greatest performance took place over the Beacon
Course, on the 1st of August, 1839. On the afternoon of that day
he trotted, with Hiram Woodruff in the saddle, three miles in 7 m.
32 s. His driver, Hiram Woodruff, says of this race: " I am posi-
tive that, if he had been called on to do so, he could have trotted
the three miles in 7 m. 27 s., or better. This is no light opinion of
mine, taken up years afterwards on inadequate grounds, and when
those who might be opposed to it had gone from among us. It
was the judgment of those who saw him in the feat, observed him
all through, and noticed how he finished.    The truth is,
that he was a most extraordinary horse. There have been many
trotters that could go as fast for a little way; but the beauty of
Dutchman was, that he could go fast, and go all day."
  The last race but one which Dutchman ever trotted took place
at the Beacon Course, in 1843, and is so graphically described by
Hiram Woodruff in his " Trotting Horse of America," that we
cannot resist the temptation to quote it entire.
  "' In a week or ten days thereafter, we went three-mile heats in
harness, over the Beacon Course, and it was a tremendous race of
four heats. The first was won by Dutchman. The second was
stoutly contested, but Americus won it. The third heat was very
hotly contested, and resulted in a dead heat between the old horse
and Americus. Lady Suffolk was now ruled out for not winning
a heat in three, and the betting was heavy, Dutchman having the
call.
  "The long summer day had drawn rapidly to a close. At
the same time the heavens were overcast; and with fading gleams
of dim, yellow light, the sun sank into great banks of clouds.
They mounted higher and higher, and seemed to lie like a load
upon the weary earth. The heat was intense; and not a breath of
air was stirring to break the ominous repose. With the last flicker
of day, the swift scud began to fly overhead, and the solid-seeming
clouds to tower up and come on like moving mountains. It was
dark when we got into our sulkies; and, soon after the start, the
storm burst upon us with a fury that I have never since seen
equalled. The wind blew a hurricane, and the pelting rain fell in
torrents, as though the sluices of the skies had opened all at once.
Nothing could have overpowered the mighty rush of the wind and
the furious splash of the rain but the dread, tremendous rattle of
the thunder. It seemed to be discharged right over our heads,



15

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE



and only a few yards above us. Nothing could have penetrated
the thick, profound gloom of that darkness but the painful blue
blhze of the forked lightning. I could not see, in the short inter-
vals between the flashes, the faintest trace of the horse before me;
and then, in the twinkling of an eye, as though the darkness was
torn away like a veil by the hand of the Almighty, the whole
course, the surrounding country, to the minutest and most distant
tijinD' would be revealed. The spires of the churches and houses
of Newark, eight miles off, we could see more plainly than in broad
daylight; and we noticed, that, as the horses faced the howling
elements, their ears lay back flat upon their necks. Between these
flashes of piercing, all-pervading light and the succeeding claps of
thunder, the suspense and strain upon the mind was terrible. We
knew that it was coming so as to shake the very pillars of the earth,
but we rode on; and, until it had rattled over our heads, we were
silent. Then. in the blank darkness, as we went on side by side,
we would exchange cautions. Neither could see the other, nor
hear the wheels nor the stride of the horses, by reason of the wind
and rain.
  " I Look out, Hiram,' Spicer would say, 'or we shall be into
each other.'
  "A few strides farther on, and I would sing out, 'Take care,
George; you must be close to me.'
  "Now, the noise of the wheels and the tramp of the horses could
not be heard in the roar of the wind and the patter of the rain,
and yet our voices could be and were. For a mile and a half, in
the very centre, as it were, of this Titanic war of the skyey
elements, we went side by side. Then Dutchman lost ground.
The track was clayey, and he, having on flat shoes, began to slip
and slide at every stride. Americus gradually drew away from
him; and, when 1 reached the stand at the end of the second mile,
I stopped. I have seen a great many summer storms in my time,
and have been out in not a few of them, but, of all that I remember,
none quite equalled, in terrific fury and awful grandeur, that which
burst over the Beacon Course just as we began that heat. Spicer
says the samc."
  After being beaten three-mile heats by the pacer Oneida Chief
and Lady Suffolk, at Baltimore, Dutchman was withdrawn from
the turf, and died in 1847, full of years and honors.
  Ripton was a very handsome bay horse, about fifteen hands high,
with four white legs and a blaze in the face, high strung and
possessing unusual spirit and determination. Like Dutchman his
pedigree was unknown, but like him also his performances prove
that there must have been good blood in his veins. He was Hiram
Woodruff's pride, and in his hands often contended with Lady



16

 

AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



Suffolk, Americus, Don Juan and Washington, and generally came
off victorious. On May 31, 1842, on the Hunting Park Course,
two-mile heats, he defeated Lady Suffolk in the quick time of 5m.
7s., 5m. 15s., 5m. 17s. Suffolk won the second heat, and Ripton
was first in the last heat by six inches only.
  On October 20, 1848, Trustee, a son of imported Trustee, out
of Fanny Pullen, a celebrated trotting mare, in a match against
time over the Union Course, Long Island, trotted twenty miles in
59 m. 354 s. without breaking once, coming in on the last mile
apparently as fresh as when he started, and trotting the last mile
in 2 m. 514 B., the fastest of the race. This has since been sur-
passed by Controller, Captain McGowan and John Stewart; but
Trustee's performance was many years in advance of the -others,
and was undoubtedly a great one.
  But the brightest star of the trotting firmament, and the great
favorite of the sporting fraternity at this time, was the old gray
mare Lady Suffolk. She was foaled in 1833, and was by En-
gineer 2d, a grandson of Messenger, and was closely inbred to the
gray on her dam's side. She was a gray, about fifteen hands one
inch high, with a bloodlike head, deep in the chest and long in the
body, good muscular shoulders and legs of iron. Her career at
first was not successful, and gave but little promise of her after
brilliancy. The Lady's first public appearance was on a very cold
day in February, 1838, at Babylon, N. Y., where she trotted for a
purse of eleven dollars, and won it after three heats, the fastest of
which was in three minutes. In her next race, June 20th, at the
Beacon Course, she was beaten in poor time; but two days after-
wards, at the same place, she won a trot of two-mile heats, under
the saddle, beating Lady Victory, a horse of some local fame, in
5 m. 15 s. and 5 m. 17 B. She was then beaten by Rattler,
Awful, and Napoleon, all of them races of two-mile heats; and
October 17th, she beat Polly Smallfry and Madame Royal, two-
mile heats, in 5 m. 18 s. and 5 m. 26 s. Rattler then beat her
three-mile heats, and the famous Dutchman beat her two races,
two-mile and mile heats respectively. In 1839 she trotted twelve
races, eight of which were two-mile heats, and one of four-mile
heats, winning six and losing six. In 1840 she first lost two races
of two-miles heats and three-miles heats respectively to the mighty
Dutchman, and then in less than a week after these two severe
races, she beat Celeste and Napoleon, at the Centreville Course,
two-mile heats. June 30th, she beat Bonaparte easily, at the Cen-
treville, four-mile heats, in 11 m. 15 s. and 11 m. 58 s. She then
lay by until September 21st, when she beat Aaron Burr, two-mile
heats, at the Beacon Course, and three days later she added to her
growing fame by beating Dutchman, two-mile heats, under saddle,
        2



17

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE



at the Beacon Course, in 4 m. 59 s. and 5 m. 3i c. Owing to an
accident, she did no more work that year. She opened the season
of 1841 by beating Confidence and Washington, two-mile heats, at
the Centreville Course, but the former a few days later turned the
tables upon her. At Philadelphia, May 6th, she beat Dutchman,
two-mile heats, in harness, in 5 in. 121 s., 5 m. 19i s., and 5 m.
21 S., and two days afterwards beat him, three-niile heats, under
saddle, in 7 m. 401 s. and 7 m. 56 s. Aaron Burr then beat her
three-mile heats at the Beacon Course, June 13th. On July 5th, at
the Beacon, she beat Ripton, under saddle, mile heats, in 2 in 35 H.
and 2 m. 271 s., and on the 22d of the same month, at the same
course, she beat Awful, two mile heats, in harness, in three heats,
in 5 mo. 26A s., 5 m. 28 s., and 5 n. 21 a. Five days after, at the
same course, she distanced Oneida Chief, the pacer, two-mile heats,
under saddle, in 5 m. 5 s., with very great ease. She finished her
work this year by suffering defeat from Americus in a five-mile race
to wa,,gn. The next two years she was generally unsuccessful,
which was attributed universally to the obstinacy and incompetency
of her owner and driver, David Bryant.
  In 1844 the Lady was very successful, beating Americus, Ripton,
Washington, Columbus, Duchess, Pizarro, and losing but two races.
In 1845, she won four races, three front Americus and one from
Moscow, and lost four times: twice to Americus, once to Duchess,
and once to Moscow. In 1846 she only won two out of her five
races, but in 1847, when she was in her fourteenth year, she bore
away the palm from all her competitors, winning nine times, and
against such horses as Moscow, Lady Sutton, Ripton, and the
pacers, James K. Polk and Roanoke, and lost but once. These
performances were at three. two, and one-mile heats, under saddle,
in harness, and to sulkies, doing three miles in 7 m. 56 8. and
8 mn. Gl s., two miles in 5 m. 3 s., 5 m. 10 s., and 5 m. 12 s.. one
mile in 2 in. 3321 s. In 1848 she trotted only six races, having
met with an accident in the nmiddle of the season, when she was
winning races hoof over hoof; but, in 1849, she canie out fresh and
fine after her accident, and trotted nineteen races, and came out con-
(ueror in twelve of them, beating Gray Eagle, Mac, and Lady Sutton
each twice; Pelham, five times; Trustee, the famous twenty-miler,
four times; Long Island Black Hawk, Gray Trouble, Ploughboy,
and others. In her race with Mae and Gray Trouble, at Boston,
June 14th, to saddle, she won the second heat in 2 m. 26 s., which
for a short time wits at the head of the record. In 1850 she be :t
Lady Mo, scow six times, at one, two, and three miles; Jack llossitcr,
thrice; Hector, once; and in harness. once her old adversary, Jaimes
K. Polk, to wagon. Slhe was beaten four times by Lady Moscow,
at two and three miles, and twice, at two miles, by Jack Rossiter,



18

 

AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.



coming off victorious from both in each match of three events. In
1851 she was only moderately successful. In 1852 she trotted
twelve races, and won but once, and in 1853 she appeared twice,
but was defeated in both races. She died at Bridgeport, Vt.,
on March 7th, 1855. Trotting indiscriminately races of five,
four, three, two and one-mile heats, in season and out of season,
wretchedly managed and driven, no distance seemed too long for
her, nor any exertion too great. An honester, gamer, tougher
beast never trod the earth; nothing ever daunted her noble spirit;
she never flinched or sulked, and would come up at the judge's
signal for the last heat with the same determination to do or die as
at the first, and had she been more judiciously handled, would have
won far more victories than stand to her credit. She was six-
teen years on the turf, and trotted in one hundred and sixty-one
races, winning eighty